If Columbia’s season of domination could be encapsulated into 12 minutes of football, the first quarter Friday night against Bay would be the stretch to point to. The Wildcats steamrolled Bay 35-0 in the opening quarter on their way to a 48-21 win in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs, and now they are just one win away from South State.
Over the course of the first eight minutes and 44 seconds, Columbia had run just six offensive plays — totaling 118 yards — and was already up 28-0. Through eight plays and the end of the first quarter, the lead was up to 35-0 as the Wildcats had 201 yards of offense. For the game, Columbia only ran 25 offensive plays, which may be the lowest in school history, but still gained 318 yards and averaged 12.7 yards per play.
“I think our kids just strive for playing in the playoffs. This senior group has played in a lot of playoff games and know the preparation that it takes. They know that it’s a one-week contract, and we’re just trying to get it renewed the next week,” head coach Chip Bilderback said. “Our kids just love to play football and compete, and Friday night showed that. Our offense is really clicking, I think our defense is still continuing to play well and we made some big plays on special teams. We scored in all phases of the game, which is a big deal.”
To open the game, Bay tried to catch the Wildcats napping with a pooch kick, but Collin Haney caught it and set the Wildcats up at the Bay 43-yard line with a nice return. On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Carter Smith delivered a nice strike near the sideline to DJ Cloyd, who broke a tackle and turned up field for a 41-yard gain. On the next play, Omar Johnson put Columbia’s first points on the board with a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead just 39 seconds into the game.
Running back Omar Johnson punches in a 2-yard touchdown.
The Tigers broke free on the ensuing kickoff for a long return to start their opening drive and quickly picked up two first downs to reach the red zone. But then the Columbia defense woke up to force Bay into a fourth-and-27 and a punt.
Following another long pass from Smith to Cloyd, this time for 23 yards, Johnson took off through a big hole up the middle, stiff-armed the safety — who never stood a chance — and made reservations for six from 50 yards out to put the Wildcats up 14-0 midway through the first quarter.
Less than a minute later, Bay was backed into a third-and-long and was forced to pass. The Tigers tried to throw a quick hitch, but strong safety Isaiah Bolton read it the whole way, stepped in front of the pass and easily returned the interception 20 yards for a touchdown.
Strong safety Isaiah Bolton catches the interception he returned for a touchdown.
After the defense got its time to shine, it was the special teams’ turn. With just over three minutes to play in the first quarter, Columbia’s Amarion Fortenberry burst through the line to block a punt into the end zone where Deshawn White fell on it to make it 28-0.
On the final play of the opening quarter, following Bay’s second consecutive three-and-out, Miguel Cook showcased his sprinter speed on a 79-yard touchdown run that made it 35-0.
“We’ve got a lot of playmakers from Omar (Johnson) to Josh (Brown) to Kentrell (Jackson) to DJ (Cloyd) to Miguel Cook — Carter is doing a great job — I would hate to have to defend our offense,” Bilderback said.
Columbia’s next drive stalled out in the red zone on Smith’s lone incompletion of the game, but the Wildcats defense made up for it. Fortenberry nearly had his second big-time play of the game, seemingly high-pointing a Bay pass, but it went through his hands. Thankfully, for Columbia’s sake, the deflected pass fell right into the waiting arms of free safety Kentrell Jackson. Three plays later, Jackson caught a middle screen, ran through an arm tackle and took off for a 34-yard touchdown. Luke Stogner’s PAT had the Wildcats enter halftime with a 42-0 advantage.
Head coach Chip Bilderback congratulates Kentrell Jackson on his receiving touchdown.
With Columbia’s backups in during the second half with a running clock, Bay was finally able to put some points on board. Tigers quarterback Xander Ladner connected with Carson Moran for a 29-yard touchdown then lofted a screen to Noah Cutter, who raced down the sideline for a 82-yard score that cut it to 42-14 early in the fourth quarter.
Then there was a miscommunication on the ensuing kickoff between Columbia’s kick returners, who let the ball bounce and never touched it, allowing the Tigers to get the ball at the Columbia 4. Carmelo Simpson punched it in on the next play to trim the Columbia lead to 42-21, but again the Wildcats made up for a previous mistake.
Bay tried an onside kick, but Fortenberry caught it on a bounce and took it to the house for a 50-yard touchdown that made the final score 48-21.
Going into the season, it was a point of emphasis for Bilderback in the coaching staff for special teams to improve because in 4A, just about every team has the depth to have specific specialists. Save for maybe one or two games, Columbia has consistently fielded the best special teams unit on the field this season. Bilderback said it’s because the players have really bought in, and the Wildcats have the personnel and attitude to dominate.
“Our coaches have done a great job of preparing them. I think we have the best kick returner and punt returner in the state in Kentrell Jackson. Miguel Cook has had a couple of returns that have been really big. We’re athletic enough that when we want to be able to bring pressure and try to block a punt, we can. It’s really helped us out,” he explained. “The one thing is our defense has been able to make teams punt a lot, so that’s a big deal.
The one special teams unit Bilderback said needs some minor tweaks is kickoff coverage. Over the past three games, Columbia has given up a few long returns, particularly against Lawrence County and once against Bay. Bilderback said the Wildcats have been trying to kick away from certain returners recently, but it hasn’t always worked. Yet, despite giving up a long return against Bay, the kickoff coverage unit proved to be a tone setter for the Wildcats as they delivered several monster hits, with Cedrick Watts coming through with three tackles himself.
When the starters were in the game during the first half, Columbia averaged 19 yards per carry and 17.6 yards per completion with only one negative-yardage play and no sacks.
Bilderback said he can’t say enough about Columbia’s offensive line and the way the group has worked together in recent weeks. Combining the efforts of left tackle Roydale Barnes, left guard Landon Fillingame, center Eli Lowery, right guard Tecorrio Shoemo and right tackle Jason Townsend with the lead blocking of tight ends Javon Barnes and Landon Wilks has allowed Columbia to utilize its full complement of weapons — something every football team, regardless of level, strives for.
“Those guys have done a great job all year, and they’re only getting better,” Bilderback said. “We challenged our players after the Poplarville game for that not to be the peak of our season. For that not to be our peak, we had to have great practices and keep preparing the right way. I think you’ve seen that really starting to hit where we’re wanting to peak late in the year right here.”
After demolishing Bay, the Wildcats (11-1) will travel two hours to take on Newton County (6-6) this Friday night for a third-round matchup. The winner will advance to the South State Championship against either Mendenhall (9-3) or Poplarville (10-2) — a pair of teams Columbia beat during the regular convincingly.
Kickoff in Newton is at 7 p.m. Friday.
